Tractarians and the 'Condition of England'

The Social and Political Thought of the Oxford Movement

S. A. Skinner

Description

Tractarians and the 'Condition of England' challenges the conventional view of tractarianism as an episode in church history, and the assumption that tractarians had little interest in the 'social condition of England'. It argues that, by a natural application of their theory of the church's primacy over the state, first-generation tractarians in fact directed a vigorous commentary against the iniquities of commercialism, of political economy and the new poor law, and of the condition of the labouring poor. This conclusion is derived in part from conventional sources for tractarian thought, such as manuscript, homiletic, and pamphlet material. However, the book also makes systematic use of two neglected though rich polemical sources: the British Critic, a quarterly periodical for whose editorial control J. H. Newman successfully manoeuvred in the late 1830s, and the canon of social novels issued by some of tractarianism's prolific yet forgotten commentators, in particular William Gresley and F. E. Paget. The author, Simon Skinner, complements recent scholarship which has refined understanding of the political and intellectual culture of nineteenth-century Britain by recovering religious and theological dimensions.

Tractarians and the 'Condition of England'

The Social and Political Thought of the Oxford Movement

S. A. Skinner

Table of Contents

Introduction: Tractarian Commentary and PosterityThe Background 1. Sources of Tractarian CriticismThe Political Model 2. High Politics: Church and State3. Low Politics: the Parish UnitThe Social Criticism 4. The Commercial Spirit: 'the Worship of Mammon'5. Political Economy: 'the Philosophy of Antichrist'6. The Church and the Poor: 'the Poor Man's Court of Justice'ConclusionBibliographyIndex

Tractarians and the 'Condition of England'

The Social and Political Thought of the Oxford Movement

S. A. Skinner

Reviews and Awards

"[C]learly presented and well documented...[A]n important research monograph which certainly deserves a place in every theological library and on the personal bookshelves of all those with an interest in nineteenth-century ecclesiastical history."--Nigel Yates, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

"[A] meticulously crafted monograph...We are indebted to him for his retrieval of a more comprehensive historical record."--John Marsden, The Heythrop Journal

"There are some scholars of the history of religion who transform their subject. Like Eamon Duffy in The Stripping of the Altars, and Boyd Hilton in The Age of Atonement...they change the landscape that they illuminate...This power to revolutionise existing attitudes is a characteristic of Dr Skinner's erudite study of the social and political doctrine of the Oxford Movement...A rare precision of thought and clarity of language make this book a pleasure to read. It will be indispensable to anyone interested in 19th-century British and religious history."--Sheridan Gilley, Church Times

"Thoroughly researched, well argued, and engaging...Historians of Victorian Anglicanism, church history, publishing, and working-class radicalism must read it."--Denis Paz Reviews in Religion and Theology

"A fine monograph...[A]nyone interested in the history of Tractarianism who wants to access the latest thinking will be richly rewarded by reading it."--Nigel Aston, New Directions